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Friday, November 14, 2008

Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador



I saw a story at America magazine's blog by James Martin SJ about the possibility of the murderers of the six Jesuits killed in El Salvador in 1989 finally being held accountable. Here's the story he cites from the New York Times ....

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Jesuit Killings in El Salvador Could Reach Trial in Spain

MADRID — Nearly 20 years after the Salvadoran Army killed six Jesuit priests in one of the most notorious events of El Salvador’s civil war, a criminal complaint filed in the Spanish High Court has revived hopes that those behind the massacre could face trial.

Human rights lawyers filed a complaint on Thursday against the Salvadoran president at the time, Alfredo Cristiani Burkard, and 14 former members of the Salvadoran military, for their roles in the killings of the priests and two female employees, and in the official cover-up that followed. International outrage over the murders proved to be pivotal in sapping American support for United States military assistance to the Salvadoran Army.

“We hope this case helps to reawaken the memory and the conscience of El Salvador’s people,” said Almudena Bernabeu, a lawyer for the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, a human rights law center, which filed the case along with the Spanish Association for Human Rights.

The Spanish High Court must decide whether to press charges against the men and seek their extradition to Spain, Ms. Bernabeu said.

The crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón made legal history in 1998 when he secured the arrest in Britain of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet using a Spanish legal principle that crimes against humanity can be prosecuted anywhere. General Pinochet narrowly escaped extradition to Spain by pleading ill health. Since then, Spain’s High Court has received cases connected to rights abuses in several countries, including Argentina, Chile and Guatemala.

In the early hours of Nov. 16, 1989, members of the Salvadoran Army forced their way into the Jesuit priests’ residence on the campus of the Central American University in San Salvador. They ordered five of the priests to lie face-down in the garden and shot them, and then searched the house, killing another priest, the housekeeper and her 16-year-old daughter. But another housekeeper witnessed the attack.

A 1991 report by a United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission said Gen. René Emilio Ponce, then army chief, ordered the killing of one of the priests, Ignacio Ellacuría Bescoetxea. General Ponce ordered soldiers to leave no witnesses to the murder of Father Ellacuría, who had promoted peace talks between the right-wing military government and Marxist guerrillas.

The complaint filed on Thursday accuses former President Cristiani of helping cover up a crime against humanity. It accuses General Ponce and the 13 other former military officials and soldiers of crimes against humanity, murder and state-sponsored terrorism for their involvement in the slaughter.

Carlos Martín-Baró, whose brother was one of the priests killed, said the case had rekindled his hopes of justice. However, he said he was past seeking retribution for his brother’s murder and hoped any legal process would contribute to a wider fight against injustice in El Salvador.

Despite the witness account, the investigations and circumstantial evidence, efforts to make El Salvador’s military account for the killings have been largely fruitless. In a 1991 trial held in El Salvador, two military officials were convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The two were released under a 1993 amnesty.

Gisela de León, a lawyer with the Center for Justice and International Law in Costa Rica, said she was cautiously optimistic that Thursday’s court filing could result in the defendants’ facing trial in Spain.

“It will put pressure on the Salvadoran authorities and remind them that there is an international community out there and they have to respect its norms,” she said by telephone.

Even if the suspects were not extradited, the Spanish case could force a trial in El Salvador, Ms. Bernabeu said. Any prosecution would serve as some form of justice and help strengthen calls for a repeal of the country’s controversial amnesty law, she said.

“Remember, Pinochet died a criminal,” she said.

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You can read more about the assassination of the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter, at this Creighton University page

You can read more about the Jesuits Massacre Case here at The Center for Justice & Accountability

Here you can read the homily given by Fr. O’Hare SJ at a memorial Mass for the slain Jesuits at St. Ignatius Church in New York City on November 22, 1989

And here's a past post I did on one of the Jesuits killed, Ignacio Ellacuría


8 Comments:

Blogger victor said...

I must complement you Crystal cause as a faithful Christian Catholic, for whatever reasons, it seems to have given you an unfair deal. I only need to go as far as Proposition 8 and look no more.

Between you and me Crystal, I kind of got UP SET with our Good Lord.

I hear ya! Victor! You could never get upset with our Lord!

With all do respect Crystal! You don't know me! With beer tears I must say that I did ask Our Lord in so many words to put nails in my hands and even feet if that would take away all that mental pain that we’re all going through.

This was His reply! No! Not in Words cause I guess I'm just not that crazy yet! He said in deep thought, Victor! They can do whatever they want and as long as they want, just so they keep just One Cell of My Love in their heart "Ill Always Be There."

Victor! Let them follow the aliens for as long as they like and for as far as they want and keep praying for them and please trust Me Victor! I won't let them down as long as they have at least ONE CELL of HUMAN LOVE FOR ME IN THEIR Heart.

You know Crystal that I could go on and on but I'll close by asking you to keep praying for me so that I always have that one cell that He speaks about in my heart.

God Bless,

Peace

3:32 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Victor :)

7:45 PM  
Blogger Jeff said...

Thanks for posting this, Crystal.

I'm glad this case is being tried in Spain and not in El Salvador... Although I'm still dubious that anyone will actually do any time for it. In addition, sadly, the current bishop in San Salvador is the opposite of Oscar Romero. He is very antagonistic towars the Jesuits at the university and towards their legacy.

11:43 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Jeff,

Is he Opus Dei? I'd read that the Church is more conservative there now and that many are Opus Dei in place of the Jesuits.

2:04 AM  
Blogger Jeff said...

Sáenz Lacalle, yes.

10:02 AM  
Blogger cowboyangel said...

I read about this yesterday. Glad to see Garzon is still taking on these kinds of cases. He's certainly a 21st century judge - I can't imagine anyone having the audacity before now to try people from other countries as he has.

I think it's much of Latin America that has gotten more conservative priests. There was an obvious move to get rid of the liberation theology people and replace them with right-wing priests. That's been the case in Mexico as well.

10:21 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi William,

Yeah, that judge is an interesting guy. I guess war crimes tried at the Hague are international too? But charging people is one thing - getyting them extradited is naother, I guess.

10:28 AM  
Blogger cowboyangel said...

Yes, there are other international courts, but they sometimes get bogged down in bureaucracy that Garzon is able to avoid. True, he may not be able to finally extradite people, but he raises the issue in a very public way, and causes problems for people who thus far have been able to escape any prosecution.

Next up - Bush. Spaniards weren't too happy when one of their leading journalists was killed in Iraq by U.S. Troops. I'll be curious to see if Garzon ever tackles that case.

6:14 AM  

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